Adrian Vanderveer Martense (1852-1898) was an amateur photographer who was a descendent of early Dutch settlers in Brooklyn. The Martense family were longtime residents of Flatbush, one of the original six towns of Brooklyn and today a neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn comprised of numerous smaller neighborhoods including Midwood, Ditmas Park, Fiske Terrace, Beverly Square (East and West), Prospect Park South, Caton Park, and Albemarle-Kenmore Terraces. In Flatbush, the Martense family built a homestead which included land that is now part of Green-Wood Cemetery. The Martense homestead stood for several generations until the family sold it in 1889, when Flatbush was transitioning from a farming community into an inner suburb.
For Adrian Vanderveer Martense, Flatbush became a subject for his photography. Martense documented houses, streets, and his friends and neighbors in Flatbush, as well as momentous events such as the Blizzard of 1888. Martense was a member of the Brooklyn Academy of Photography (which became the Brooklyn Camera Club in 1896) and served as its first recording secretary when it was established in 1887.
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Sources:
- Ditmas, Charles Andrew. "The Adrian Martense Homestead." In
Historic Homesteads of Kings County, Brooklyn, N.Y. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Self published, 1909. Accessed March 31, 2011. http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Town/Homesteads/Martense.html
- Back, Adina and Francis Morrone.
Flatbush Neighborhood History Guide. New York: Brooklyn Historical Society, 2008.
- Brooklyn Camera Club. "Brooklyn Camera Club History." Accessed March 31, 2011. http://www.brooklyncameraclub.org/brooklyncameraclub/History.html
From the guide to the Adrian Vanderveer Martense collection, 1872-1889, (Brooklyn Historical Society)
